King Duncan I

Elgin Today

Duncan I (a.k.a. Donnchad mac
Crínáin) lived from 15 August 1001 to 15 August 1040 and
was King of Alba from 25 November 1034 to 15 August 1040. The wider picture in
Scotland at the time is set out in our
Historical Timeline.

Duncan was the maternal grandson of Malcolm II, who he succeeded to the throne: the first
time the Scottish crown had passed down the direct line rather than being
distributed around the extended family under the law of tanistry.

Until Malcolm's rule, the Crown of Alba had passed backwards and
forwards between different strands of the House of
Alpin under the law of tanistry, under which the extended family elected
the successor from candidates across the family. This had ceased simply through
Malcolm's move to kill anyone he thought likely to be a challenge to the
succession of his own line.

It would seem that Duncan was neither a very good nor a very
popular king, and today he is largely remembered (thanks to William
Shakespeare's rather fictional approach to history) for his rivalry with his
cousin Macbeth. In 1030 Duncan married Suthen, the
cousin of Earl Siward Biornsson of Northumbria. Two of their sons,
Malcolm III Canmore and Donald Bane went on to be Kings of Scotland.

By 1040, Macbeth's challenge for the crown was becoming more
serious, in part because he had formed an alliance with
Earl Thorfinn of Orkney (another
cousin of his and of Duncan's). The three met in battle near
Elgin on 15 August 1040 and Duncan
was killed. He was later buried in the graveyard at Saint Oran's Chapel on the
Isle of Iona. Duncan was succeeded by
Macbeth.